Reading List: Portugal’s pain (video edition)

Despite receiving praise from the EC, IMF and ECB for its progress in introducing austerity measures, this report says that it's no comfort to the people of Portugal. With the economy forecast to shrink 3.3 per cent this year and an unemployment rate of 14 per cent, some economists are warning that the country's slump could continue for years to come. Euro news

Lending-backed consumption has kept the Chinese economy growing year on year by 9 per cent or more. However, "the trouble with relying on all this construction to grow your economy is that every year you have to build more and more just to stand still." BBC

Meridian Equity Partners' Stephen Guilfoyle says the set-up of a ‘BRICS Bank' would be a ‘really big deal' because it could be countries like Russia and China – who have shown an aversion to the US dollar, trying to start something that gets around the US currency. NYFP

Two prominent economists, Jim O'Neil and Nouriel Roubini, discuss the European debt crisis, oil prices and how the US economy could be a ‘surprise' driver of global growth in the first few quarters of 2012. Bloomberg